The Bee Tree

Special Recognition, Paterson Prize for Books for Young People
Skipping Stones Honor Award, Skipping Stones Magazine

This beautifully illustrated STEM picture book is both a fascinating insight into honeybee behavior and a satisfying story of coming of age.

Nizam lives in a village in Peninsular Malaysia. His grandfather Pak Teh is the leader of the honey hunting clan. It is Pak Teh who has the high honor of climbing the tall Tualang tree deep in the rainforest. Lying on a branch more than a hundred feet in the air, he uses the clan's secret method to harvest the honey without being stung. But Pak Teh is getting older, and he is ready for someone to take over his role. Even though Nizam and his cousin Shukor have climbed the mighty Tualang in the daylight, they have never done it at night. Will they be brave enough? Will the angry bees sting them? Or will they succeed and claim their place in the clan?

The creators of this book participated in the honey hunt with the Orang Asli, the indigenous people of Malaysia, and the extensive backmatter provides additional information on the country, the rainforest, the Orang Asli, and the giant honeybees.

Stephen Buchmann is a pollination biologist, photographer, and adjunct professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he studies buzz pollination and the microbiomes of bees. He is the author of eleven books, including The Forgotten Pollinators and The Reason for Flowers. A frequent guest on many public media programs, he lives in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. Please visit his website at stephenbuchmann.com.

Diana Cohn has worked on environmental, economic, and global justice issues as a teacher, a media activist, and an advisor, program officer, and executive director in philanthropic institutions. She is the award-winning author of seven children's books, including ¡Si Se Puede! / Yes We Can! Janitor Strike in L.A., The Bee Tree, and Crane Boy, all published by Cinco Puntos Press/Lee & Low Books. She lives with her husband on a houseboat in northern California.

Paul Mirocha creates artwork noted for its combination of rich detail and emotional appeal. He has illustrated more than twenty children's picture books and pop-ups, and his illustrations have appeared in interpretive exhibits, scientific and popular publications, and books of adult and young adult fiction and contemporary nature writing. He lives in Tucson, Arizona. You can find his website at paulmirocha.com